There are many reasons we are excited for the upcoming "The Hobbit" films, but one of the biggest ones is the fact Benedict Cumberbatch is playing Smaug the dragon. We haven't even had a tease of the big, bad treasure-hoarder in any of the movie's promotion, but it turns out that we won't have to wait ages to see him in action after all.

With "The Hobbit" now being split into three movies, we aren't quite clear which film we'll see Bilbo Baggins confront Smaug in. The scene occurs towards the end of "The Hobbit" novel, so it seems safe to assume that it won't be featured until either "The Hobbit: There And Back Again" or the currently untitled third "Hobbit" film. But in an interview featured on CumberbatchWeb, we've learned that he will actually appear much earlier in the trilogy. Be warned, there are spoilers after the jump.

"I think my eye might open at the end of the first film and then you’ll get the rest of me in the second," Cumberbatch said.

Apparently this interview happened before it was announced that "The Hobbit" would be split into three films, so Cumberbatch's information might be out of date. But rumor has it that "There And Back Again" will be renamed "The Desolation of Smaug," so we could be seeing the dragon in the second film after all. We're just excited that we'll get a tease of him in "An Unexpected Journey," even if it is just his eye.

"The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" is due in theaters on December 14.

Are you glad Smaug is set to appear in the first "Hobbit" film? Tell us in the comments section below or on Twitter!